Automated or autonomous operation of a host-vehicle such as an automobile has been suggested. The degree of automation includes full automation where the operator of a host-vehicle does not directly control any aspect of vehicle operation. That is, the operator is essentially a passenger, and a controller in the host-vehicle takes control of all steering, braking, and engine control (e.g. acceleration) operations of the host-vehicle. Various vehicle control decisions made by the controller, such as how close to follow behind a forward-vehicle, or what travel-lane of a multi-lane roadway is used, are based, at least in part, on pre-programmed parameters. However, the controller may be pre-programmed with parameters that are not entirely to the liking of the operator of the host-vehicle. For example, the operator may feel the controller is tail-gating and want increased separation between the host-vehicle and another vehicle in front of the host-vehicle. In other words, the operator may be more comfortable if the controller did not operate host-vehicle in accordance with a forward-minimum-distance parameter initially programmed into the controller, but used an increased value for the forward-minimum-distance parameter.